A Road not Taken
by Dash Driver
Summary: Crossover where a jump gate connects to M-51 and Earth was occupied on the past by remnants of the Taiidan Empire. Fast forward 170 years to 2183 and the liberated humanity under the Systems Alliance work to become part of the galactic community. This is the story of Alaya Shepard.
1. Prologue

A Road not Taken

Prologue

"Receiving crews, standby for arrival on pier twelve, arm three." The automated voice announced over the speakers in the corridor of the imposing space station. In front of a large viewing window and older man in a dark blue uniform stood at parade rest. His deep blue eyes watched carefully as the one hundred seventy meter long frigate docked with the station. The vessel in question had very much similar lines to that of the marine frigates of old, only a trained eye would be able to tell the difference between the ships that liberated the man's homeworld more than one hundred years ago and these ships. The ship was painted in the distinct base blue and white markings as most other ships in the fleet, the angel moon crest emblazoned on the prow of the warship that came to view as it docked. The sight of the ship brought a feeling of nostalgia and memories of the past.

"Admiral Hackett?"

"Yes?" The man's gravelly voice replied as his gaze of the ship was broken, his mind returning to the present and to a young man who looked no older than twenty.

"Docking procedures are complete, you can come with me."

"That won't be necessary, Ensign." Admiral Hackett replied as he saw the doors leading to the docking arm open up and a woman in her mid thirties with a similar uniform to that of the admiral walked towards him with her cap tucked under her right arm. The woman had sharp angular facial features, near luminescent green eyes and in spite of her significantly shorter height, carried herself with confidence. As she walked to the admiral, her streaked blonde and brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail made a slight swish with each step. The female snapped to a crisp salute to the old man.

"Admiral Hackett, sir."

"Captain LiirHra." The admiral said returning the salute.

The captain's stoic expression changed to a warm smile as she then hugged the old man briefly before releasing him from the embrace. "It's good to see you again, Steven."

"The feeling is mutual, Doria." The two of them then started walking down the halls and began to converse between themselves.

"So, how is the family?" Doria asked Steven as they walked, passing viewports where other ships were docked, ranging from frigates like Doria's to the massive battlecruisers ten times their size.

"They're doing well. Tara is making plans for our fortieth anniversary next month. Joseph just graduated from fleet academy and will be heading through the node after our anniversary. He's been posted to the forty second guard fleet."

"What about Lucy?"

"Lucy is well...Lucy is still trying to figure out what she wants to do. Would you mind getting in contact with her when you head back? She's still over there. I think she just can't get enough of Iona."

Doria let out a chuckle at this. "Steven, don't be so hard on her, you can't blame her for wanting to have a good time and we both know that Iona is party central for young adults her age."

Steven just grumbled at this for a moment before he returned the question. "What about you? I hear that you and Victor are working on what? Number six?"

"Seven." Doria corrected him.

"Damn. I mean I get it, you're trying to recover population numbers over what happened almost three hundred years ago, but with your science, I thought cloning would work far better. Be a hell of a lot easier on you as well."

"Right there is the difference between a human and a hiigaran. I could try and explain it to you until I'm blue in the face, but we both know you still won't get it."

"No, I guess not. Well, how are the kids and their father?"

"Very well, Victor's new administrative job at the Naabal distribution hub in Tiir is steady, but allows him most nights at home with the kids. They sure grow up fast. Ethan is thinking of donning the red."

Steven nodded at this. He knew somewhat how conflicted she was about this. Donning the red was a ceremony that one had to take part in if they chose to join Kiith Soban, one of the main clans of the hiigarans. Problem was, the ceremony would involve abandoning all previous ties, so they would have limited contact in the future. Soban was militarily the best trained in the two galaxies and so would be working to keep both humans and hiigarans safe and so having one join Soban was at the same time a tremendous honor.

"Ethan is a good man; I know this because I know his parents. He'll make the right decision."

Doria let out an exhale and looked up at Steven with a warm smile. She didn't need to say anything; words sometimes didn't need to be spoken.

The two officers rounded a corner and came to a pair of large doors that were promptly opened by the soldiers standing on either side of them along with a salute which the officers returned. Once inside the room, the doors were closed and a distinct click was heard as they were secured.

"Captain LiirHra, good to see you again." A dark skinned man said who stood up and offered his hand to her.

"David Anderson," Doria replied and took his hand in a firm shake. "Finally decided to leave the dangerous work to the youth, I see."

"You could say that, not that fleet postings are exactly safe."

Doria agreed with a slight nod before she looked over at the other person in the room. The man was older, wearing a suit with greying hair and a receding hairline. "I don't think we've met before. Mr?"

"Udina," the man replied to her. "I am Ambassador Donnel Udina. Now, if everyone can take their seats, we can begin with our candidate selection."

The three officers took their seats, along with the civilian and by the look on Doria's face; she clearly was not sure what exactly they were selecting.

"Captain LiirHra, we needed you here as an observer. We are selecting a potential Spectre candidate." Admiral Hackett explained.

"Spectre?" Doria's brow furrowed as she began to think of where she heard that before.

"Spectres are the Citadel's special agents. Stands for Special Tactics and Reconnaissance, they recently offered us to put a candidate forward for consideration. While the new defense pact essentially makes the Systems Alliance an independent entity from the Hiigaran Pax, we don't want to do anything that might cause undue friction." Udina explained with a calm tone and measured words.

"I see," Doria replied with concern in her voice. "The Alliance really wants this, don't they? In spite of our close relationship and warnings about governing bodies like the Council?"

"Doria, you said that no matter how much you explained, we wouldn't quite fully understand your people? Well, it is the same way for us. We appreciate everything the hiigarans did for us, but we are a part of this galaxy and if that means becoming more involved in her politics then we cannot just hide away."

Doria nodded at this. "You're right, admiral. We can't keep you separate from the rest of the galaxy, and while I have reservations about the Council, we know you well enough to know you will act in your people's best interest as well as ours. Please proceed."

"Our first candidate is Daniel Santiago. Born on Earth to a middle-class family, he's proven himself an excellent student in space combat commanding a pulsar gunship. Let's see here. Survived the Battle of Noveau Burgundy."

"That might be a problem," Hackett spoke up as he looked at the datapad. "Only major engagement was a disaster, and while he survived to warn the fifth fleet, many still look on breaking the line with a great deal of stigma. He's a survivor, I don't know if those are the values we want to instill. Sometimes you have to hold the line, even when it means you won't survive."

"Well what about this one? Thomas Calais. He was born on Arcturus Station, trained in the twenty third shock battalion and lead the charge to re-take Winter Jericho from the Vaygr. A soldier like that sure knows how to press the victory." Captain Anderson said as he looked over more of the man's bio.

"Victory at all costs." Doria spoke up as she saw something that had not been considered. "During the engagement, he ordered orbital bombardments on enemy positions known to be in civilian zones as well as calling in danger close fire missions. Sure, he got the job done, and I'm certain those turians will like that kind of resolve, but if your candidate is going to represent the Alliance, do you want that representative to be someone who cares little for civilian and friendly casualties?"

"Well, those were our prime candidates. Are we going back to the selection process?" Udina spoke up, clearly annoyed at the rejection of the candidates.

"Ambassador, I couldn't help but notice that Lieutenant-Commander Shepard was not in the selection pool. I worked with her a few years back, is there a reason for that?" Anderson questioned Udina with a slightly raised brow.

"She doesn't meet the qualifications." Udina replied simply.

"I don't see how she doesn't. She's smart, resourceful and one hell of a shot and was part of the force that withstood the Siege of Elysium. Her command of one of the strongpoints is the reason we didn't lose the spaceport." Anderson's expression changed when he suddenly realized what Udina was getting at.

"Like I said, Captain, she doesn't meet the qualifications."

"Anderson, would you care to enlighten me? Clearly, you know something that I don't." Hackett spoke up, seeing the tension in his fellow officer.

"The ambassador seems to think that her background makes her ineligible. Her mother's maiden name was Helena S'jet."

"It is a perfectly legitimate concern," Udina said as his voice just slightly increased in volume. "Humanity and the Alliance are already viewed by most of the galaxy as mere puppets of the Hiigaran Pax. If we are going to be viewed at a truly independent power in the galaxy, we cannot be represented by someone who didn't enter this galaxy for the first sixteen years of her life. Then there is the concern of where her loyalties really lie."

Admiral Hackett leaned forward in his seat and pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a second as he endeavored to remain calm. Every race had their hang-ups, and this was a big one that didn't seem to go away. People with mixed blood were sometimes viewed as untrustworthy. This was a carryover back to when Earth was under taiidan occupation where many humans were upset at how the hiigarans never involved themselves directly and many hiigarans viewed humans as simplistic brutes. When members of the two races began to intermarry, their children received the brunt of this same stigma where hiigarans saw them as less intelligent and humans questioned their loyalty. The lower dregs of the society called them 'varsha-kiith' or 'half-breeds'.

"Ambassador," Hackett began slowly. "Her record speaks for herself. Top marks, exemplary service record and the Star of Terra during the siege of Elysium. You say her loyalty is questionable, and I say you don't have a leg to stand on."

The ambassador raised his hands in surrender and let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, I'll make the call."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

In the dark void of space, a sleek ship painted in white and blue glided along silently. She had a narrow fuselage with almost wing-like protrusions and looked almost like a bird of prey as it headed towards the glowing object in the distance. The ship in question was the SSV Normandy as could be told by the name emblazoned on the side of her hull in white lettering on a blue hull. The object that the vessel was heading towards was called a mass relay and would propel the ship thousands of light years in the blink of an eye. On the bridge of ship sat a man with a scruffy beard, wearing a baseball hat with the letters SR-1.

"Arcturus relay is in range, initiating transmission sequence," the man said as his hands moved expertly over the console. Beside him another man with a shaven face, dark hair and much larger build was watching the readouts carefully.

"Relax, Kaidan." The bearded pilot said as he continued to work. "This is child's play."

"Maybe, but traveling through normal space faster than light still makes me a little nervous." Lieutenant Alenko's nerves were understandable as there were two known forms of FTL travel at humanity's disposal. The more trusted form was through the use of a hyperspace core, the ship essentially opened a window into subspace and created a tunnel and an exit point and the other was through the use of an element zero core which lowered a ship's mass to allow it to travel beyond the speed of light in normal space.

While the use of a hyperspace core was preferred, due to the lack of fuel sources in the Milky Way Galaxy it made far more sense to utilize the mass effect technology. This created other problems as core size was directly proportional to mass and to prevent cores from being prohibitively expensive, new ship construction required that mass be reduced at the expense of hull armor.

"Don't sweat it, if the council has been using these systems for thousands of years I don't think we're going to run into any problems." The pilot made a few more entries into his console.

"Calculating transit mass and destination. Relay is hot, acquiring approach vector. Hitting the relay in three, two one…" in an instant the ship flashed out of view and in the time it took to blink an eye they were back to normal space.

"Thrusters…check, navigation…check. Drift….just under fifteen hundred k."

"Fifteen hundred, not bad. I am sure your captain will find that acceptable," the person who spoke up was a turian who was standing just behind the pilot. He then promptly left the helm of the ship.

"Acceptable?" The pilot said with a snort of derision. "What a dick."

"Relax Joker, I'm sure he didn't mean anything buy it."

"If you want to fish for compliments, look for an asari." The other voice that spoke up belonged to Alaya Shepard who had just entered the room. She had dark brown hair and green eyes with sharp angular features, high cheekbones and a slim physique that was apparent even given the N7 armor that she was wearing. The woman looked at the pilot, a one Flight Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau.

"Sorry Commander, it's nothing. Well actually it is something, the skill it takes to shoot us across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead is not something anyone can do. Acceptable is putting your pants on the right way every morning, this…can you stop smiling?" Joker's face turned to a scowl as a large grin crept across the commander's face.

"Sorry Lieutenant, I have never seen anyone who needed their ego stroked as much as this. Well, maybe I have. My cousin Iifrit did the same exact thing, anytime he did something worth mentioning he wanted acknowledgement." Alaya said, trying to contain the laughter as she spoke.

"Wait, Iifrit. That's Hiigaran, isn't it?" Kaidan spoke up at hearing that, which caused Joker to change his tune as well.

"Commander, you're one of them?" Joker asked, to which the mood became even more serious.

"One of them?" She folded her arms over her chest at the comment.

"You know, one of the Pax people, but I thought you were Alliance?"

"Um Joker, you might want to stop talking before the commander breaks your neck."

"Oh, so you're a half…" Joker continued and Kaidan could only loudly exhale and pinch the bridge of his nose while the pilot seemed content to continue flying straight into the hornet's nest.

"Yes Lieutenant," Alaya said and she tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "I am a half-breed. My father is Ambassador John Shepard assigned to Hiigara and my mother is Helena S'jet. Well, not really S'jet since she married my father. I've heard it all before, so why don't you go ahead and get it out of your system."

"No ma'am, it's nothing like that. Sorry, it's just that I have never met a mixed race person before. I kind of envy you, I mean I saw the vids of the new Legacy-class battlecruiser and what I would do to get my hands on that baby." Joker was interrupted as there was a ping on his console.

"Oh crap," he said as his hands flew over the console. "All hands, general quarters." Soon warnings began to blare and the lighting changed to a deep blue.

"Joker, status report!" A voice barked through the shipwide system.

"Sir, the sensors have picked up a mark three Qwaar-Jet in orbit around Eden Prime along with a full escort. We're also detecting the wreckage of the defense fleet, I'm also picking up a distress signal." To everyone on the ship, the presence of the iconic taiidan heavy cruiser was enough to cause the crew to begin to feel either concern or rage as heavy cruisers were seen as the symbol of human oppression, as one always orbited Earth during the occupation, raining down heavy ordinance any time the resistance started making progress anywhere.

"Patch it through to the briefing room and tell Shepard to meet me there yesterday," Joker looked back to see that Alaya had already left and was running towards the briefing room and Kaidan was also getting up out of his seat.

"She's already on her way and Lieutenant Alenko is heading below deck. IES is coming online along with the cloak," Joker announced, his laidback demeanor changed professional at the rapidly changing situation. The taiidan were back, he didn't care why they were here or that they claimed to now be a republic. Once again they were at war.

"To any ships receiving this hail, we are under attack by unknown ground forces supported by a mix of taiidan and vaygr assets. I repeat, taiidan and vaygr forces have engaged."

Alaya was watching the transmission along with Captain Anderson and the turian, Nihlus and from what she could see the situation was rapidly deteriorating, the soldiers in the shaky transmission were trying to hold their own, but it was abundantly clear that they were being overrun by the sound of weapons fire coming from every which direction. Alliance marines were hardly pushovers, having been trained by the Hiigaran allies after the war, the Systems Alliance improved on that training in several areas, using the experience of guerilla warfare that they learned as resistance fighters.

"Alaya, I'm going to cut to the chase here as time is short. We didn't expect Imperials to be crawling up our asses so here is the real reason for the mission, not the BS that fleet intelligence fed you and the rest of the crew. Construction teams on Eden Prime unearthed a Prothean beacon when they were working to extend the monorail system. Now, I don't need to tell you what kind of potential intelligence gold mine this could be, but there is another benefit of finding the beacon."

"The Alliance has wisely decided that it is best for everyone that they turn over the beacon to the Council for study. I was sent on this mission to ensure that this goes off without a hitch, and I am also here to evaluate you."

Alaya gave the turian a curious glance and then back at David, she had several questions running through her head, and before she could speak, David filled in the blanks for her, the two of them had worked on enough ops that they cold anticipate pretty quickly what the other was thinking.

"Nihlus wants to see if you have what it takes to be a council Spectre and the Alliance brass has greenlighted the evaluation. I don't need to explain to you just what this means if the Council accepts a human into their ranks, we will be taken much more seriously on galactic matters and us turning over the beacon will show that we are willing to work with the other races in cooperative ventures."

Alaya wanted to say that the Alliance was not really working with the Council but merely bowing to their will, but she kept it quiet, knowing that this was neither the time nor the place to speak about it. David was her superior officer and it would be a cold day in hell when she would undermine his command in front of anyone, especially an outside observer like Nihlus.

"If the Alliance wants to back my candidacy, I will do my utmost to prove that their trust was not misplaced, the same can be said of retrieving the beacon for the Council."

"Impressive," Nihlus spoke up as he seemed to be thinking about something. "Humanity has been somewhat of a cause of concern, as you are essentially an uplifted species and we have never known for that to end well. Still, you seem to be able to put your personal feelings aside for the greater good, and in spite of your connection to the Pax, you seem loyal to the Alliance."

Alaya kept calm, knowing that he meant nothing by it, clearly not understanding how things worked on Hiigara. Her father was an ambassador and when he married her mother, Alaya had no direct connection to Hiigara as she was seen in their eyes as not being one of them in almost every sense of the word, and still this sentiment remained. She had to remember that this should be understandable as while she spoke several Earth languages, her first language was Kushan-la and her accent was still somewhat discernable.

"Well, she has been trained by the Alliance, and she would not have been made an officer if her loyalty was in doubt," David spoke up, knowing that Alaya was uncomfortable with this conversation. "For the time being, let's focus on the task at hand, the Normandy should be able to get us planetside without being detected by the blockading force. We'll move in fast and quiet, and once we have the beacon we'll pull you out on a hot extraction. Alaya, head down to the cargo bay, you'll be hitting the ground running, Alenko and Jenkins are going to be joining you on this op, they are down in the cargo bay for the drop."

Alaya gave the captain a quick salute and turned to leave. "Oh, and Nihlus will be coming along, but we are dropping him ahead of you, he is going to be your eyes and ears out there. Watch his six, and secure that beacon. Arkoshal Cora," the captain said to which Alaya gave a little smile, just like him to give her the good luck or in this case, literally 'safe journey' farewell. This was one of the reasons she liked working with David.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The drop had gone without a hitch, the grav lift system courtesy of hiigaran marine frigate technology had enabled them to come in fast and low while minimizing the time over the drop zone that it did not attract too much attention, still the rumble of engines could still be heard and Alaya knew that David would not take any chances. Technology was great, but it was always the fool who blindly trusted that their tech would help them out of the worst of situations.

The woman pulled her rifle off her back, the weapon being the A-78L light infantry rifle. The weapon was a perfect mix of Pax and Alliance technology that was based off the hiigaran coil gun technology that had proven itself over the years. This weapon had a slightly shorter barrel, a magazine that fired much smaller 4.45mm flechettes allowing each magazine capacity to have increased to fifty rounds with the added benefit of mass effect technology that allowed them to accelerate the rounds faster all the while able to reduce the size of the recoil dampers.

The weapon was not without its problems, though. As opposed to their council contemporaries, the A-78L had a much lower rate of fire, there was need to carry spare magazines and too much use on full auto could warp the barrel. Still, the weapon packed quite a punch and Alaya preferred a few well-placed shots anyways.

"All right, Jenkins," Alaya said as she looked over to the young marine who was carrying the same type of weapon, the piss and vinegar demeanor she had seen on the ship was gone, clearly the man was having a hard time coping with what had happened to his home. "Hey, you with me, Richard?" She asked, using his first name to get his attention.

"Yes ma'am," the man seemed to almost jump a little.

"Listen, I know it doesn't look good, but we won't be able to help anyone unless we can get ourselves into this fight, and I can't do that unless I have some intel to work with. So tell me where we are, and possible routes to the dig site."

"Right," Richard said as he looked around for a moment before he spoke up. "Looks like the captain dropped us at Calais Point, it is…well, it is a popular makeout point."

Alaya could not help but glance over to Kaidan with a bit of a grin and back at Richard. "Seriously? Remind me to have you give me a tour of this planet once we give our friends their eviction notice, I'm sure it would be very enlightening."

Richard cleared his throat at this, his face clearly going a little red before he continued. "Right, like I was saying, this is Calais Point, we could follow de Gaulle Parkway into town as it follows the ridgeline to the valley where the town is located, but it is pretty exposed. There is also a gondola nearby and we could probably make our way down the service road, and the last option is Vichy Nature Preserve, it runs down the backside of the hill and while it is not direct, it has plenty of cover."

Alaya thought about her options, the first would get them to the dig site the fastest, but any enemy worth their salt would be watching that road with a couple of sniper teams, so that was a clear no-go. She was tempted with the second option, but like the first an access road while having more cover was still likely to have its own roving patrol which left her with only one option.

"Let's take a walk in the park," Alaya said and signaled for Richard to take point. The three of them moved into the treeline, keeping up a good pace but at the same time they made sure not to run to keep down the noise level, as well as making sure they didn't tire out or make a wrong step. This became more and more vital as their pace slowed down while the hill became steeper and steeper to the point they had to shoulder their weapons.

"At times like this, I really envy you, Kaidan. No lugging a big frickin rifle and heavy combat armor down this blasted hill," Alaya said as she grabbed onto a tree with her armored gauntlets to help her down a particularly steep area covered in loose rock.

"Well, this medical kit is not exactly light, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to deal with the migraines," the young officer said as they made their way down, Alaya then remembered that the Lieutenant was a biotic.

"Oh I'm sure that she uses the headache excuse more times than you do, el tee," Jenkins piped up, only to be rewarded with something akin to a pine cone thrown lightly at the back of his head, causing him to flinch, his feet sliding a little before he grabbed a small sapling to arrest his fall.

"What the hell, ma'am, you trying to get me killed?"

"I think you're over-exaggerating," Kaidan spoke up. "Besides, maybe it is a good learning experience about running your mouth, and even if you fell on your head, I don't think there would be any damage that anyone would notice."

"Ha, ha," Jenkins grumbled as he continued down the embankment. "Looks like I'm on mission with a pair of real comedians."

"Then I guess with you, that makes us the three stooges," Kaidan returned to which all three of them could not help and smile a little about. The distraction was welcome, especially since it kept Richard from dwelling too much on what was happening to his colony.

The trio had made it down the hill at a respectable pace, and as the ground leveled off, they came near the edge of the treeline. There was a construction road, basically it was cut through the trees with large rocks and coarse gravel covering it and given how wide it was, this was clearly a baserunner service road. On the other side of the road, Alaya could see the vertical columns that were the pilings or the monorail currently under construction.

"Hold up," Alaya said as she moved to the edge of the treeline, taking a knee and Jenkins doing the same thing with Kaidan close behind. "Okay, I am going to cross first, then Richard followed by Kaidan will take rear guard. We will then follow the monorail into town."

Alaya pulled her rifle off her back and after a quick sight check, she clicked off the safety and after a quick mental countdown, she ran across the road, feeling and hearing her armored boots hit the loose gravel until she reached the other side. Once behind the relative safety of the embankment on the far side, she brought her weapon up and after scanning that it was all clear, signaled for Richard who sprinted across and then baseball slid over the embankment beside Alaya. Kaidan was the last across and while he did not move with the same gusto as Richard, he still moved quickly.

"Okay, it looks like we're in the clear, for now," Alaya said as she kept low while they moved away from the embankment. As they moved towards the first of the support columns, they came across what had remained of the construction crew, this caused Richard to run ahead.

"Corporal! Get back here," Alaya barked out but it was too late, she heard a whirring sound and moments later, floating objects she had never seen before came out from among the smouldering construction equipment and while she fired on these strange craft, she watched as Richard's shields flared for a moment and then the rapid-fire blue rounds impacted his body. The man fell to the ground, she could see that he was still alive as he half crawled, half dragged himself to the support column. When the last of the drones had been taken out, she ran towards him.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I," Richard gasped, his armor was smoking and based on the gaping wounds and the blood he was now coughing up, he didn't have long. His once bright blue eyes filled with the energy of youth seemed to now only be filled with fear and regret.

"Take it easy, Richard," Alaya said as she was now knelt beside him, pressing her hand on his chest, even though knowing full well there was nothing she could offer to him. "You did what you thought was right, no one could ever fault you for that," she said offering up a weak smile all the while she blinked quickly not to let the tears she felt from falling.

"I…thought…my dad," was the last words he said and she could feel that his labored breaths had stopped. She moved her blood-streaked gauntlet over his eyes, smearing his face with his own blood as she closed his eyes.

"Safe journey, Richard," she whispered as she could see a shadow cast over her and knew it to be Kaidan. "Set Richard's armor to transmit KIA status and let's get moving. We'll retrieve him once we complete the mission," Alaya said as she stood up, a feeling of both anger and guilt sweeping over her, but she knew they had to press on.

The two of them approached the first of the destroyed drones while Kaidan stooped down beside it, pushing it over and looking at the weapon attached to the base of it. "This is interesting, the weapon seems to be mass effect based," he said as he continued to examine it.

"So we're dealing with more than just taiidan or vaygr," Alaya said as she stated what her fellow officer was thinking in regards to the strange construct. "Either way, we don't want to be caught up in the open, not against these things."

"Still, they seem like glass cannons, ma'am," Kaidan said as he used his omni-tool to make an image capture before giving Alaya the nod that he was ready to go, this time the woman took point, the duo needing to be much more careful, using cover to good effect.

As they continued along the monorail, the support columns giving way to sections with horizontal cross-sections which was a sign they were headed in the right direction, they encountered more groups of these drones. Now that she knew what to listen for, whenever she heard that whirring sound, she knew that the drones were close, and they took cover, using the columns and other obstacles as they returned fire, Kaidan's biotics weakening them while Alaya finished them off in a powerful one, two punch.

Finishing off another group of drones, she could hear gunfire similar to the sounds she heard in the recording, as well as the report of a heavy rifle, one that she knew very well. "Come on Kaidan, we need to double-time it, I think there might still be some marines alive," she said as she felt a surge of hope rising from within her. The loss of Richard was tough, especially to be cut down before he even got the chance to engage the enemy and prove himself, but the thought that there could be some marines alive gave her a sense of renewed vigor and soon enough they could see exactly the source of the firefight.

Up ahead there was a monorail station that looked to be under construction, the simple two storey building was smoking at several places, and Alaya finally got a look at the opposing force and was surprised at what she saw. They appeared to be metallic, and strangely enough had some sort of light in their heads, and while she didn't know what they were, seeing them fire on the station gave her all the intel she needed. It seemed that most of the enemy were coming from the direction of the city, leaving very few on her side, most likely just to keep the marines from getting out of there.

"Kaidan, focus fire on those in the treeline, we'll then break for the station and link up with the friendlies." The man nodded and a blue aura surrounded him for a second before there was the telltale sound and moments later an small biotic explosion could be heard from the treeline, cracking branches and soon Alaya opened up with her rifle. She heard odd squealing sounds and the lack of return fire made it clear that they had downed their hostiles.

"Head for the station," she said to Kaidan and began running herself towards the structure and then once she neared the building, rounded a corner for the main entrance. "Friendlies!" She yelled out before she made her way through the front door, the smell of death was thick as she entered what was the main lobby. On the ground were bodies of civilians and marines, she could smell burnt flesh and ozone so thick she almost gagged on it. This had been clearly set up as a morgue and as she rounded some check-in terminals towards a sign directing to the upstairs, she could see the walls were blackened and a large number of the strange silver aliens strewn all over the place. As she approached one of them, it became clear that these were some sort of robots, possibly mechs.

Reaching the stairs, she glanced down to see a laser on her chest, and looking up the stairs she could see a marine. "Reinforcements? Thank God," the woman at the top of the stairs said, finally lowering her weapon.

"Not exactly," Alaya said as she made her way up the steps. "We are part of the recovery team that was supposed to pick up the beacon. Sorry," she said as she got close, surprised to see that the soldier was a woman, her hair was braided and tied back into a ponytail. Yet that was not the part that surprised her, the armor she wore was black and red with a red symbol on her left arm that she recognized immediately. This woman wasn't an Alliance marine.

"Right now, I will take any help I can get," the woman replied. "Group Sergeant Ashley Soban of the forty seventh strike fleet, detached as a training officer for the Alliance."

"Lieutenant Commander Alaya Shepard," Alaya responded and glanced back at Kaidan. "That's Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, what's the situation?"

"Situation is that we got caught with our pants down," the woman said as she moved over to a window where she had set up essentially a sniper perch in the offices. As she looked around, Alaya could see that there were perches all around the upper floor with various weapon types by each one. It didn't take an overly creative mind to realize that she fired from each station with the various weapons to keep the enemy from realizing there was just one soldier up here.

"Sergeant…" she began before Ashley cut her off.

"Please, just call me Ash," the woman said as she walked over to where she had a sniper rifle and got into position, looking down the scope while Alaya and Kaidan kept low, making sure not to make themselves easy targets for sharpshooters.

"Okay, Ash it is. Tell me, what happened here?"

"We got jumped, I don't know how they pulled it off, but the enemy achieved complete surprise. Eden Prime just has a handful of some loaner Torpedo Frigates along with the newer Alliance Assault Frigates. Most of those ships were lost before we even knew what was happening, all we knew was the enemy force was spearheaded by some upgraded taiidani and vaygr assets along with a new super-capital class ship that is not in the databases. About that time is when these metal bastards began raining down on the planet, and from all appearances I would wager anything that they are geth."

"Geth? Out here, beyond the Veil?" Kaidan spoke up. "They have not been seen nor heard of for over three hundred years. Why attack us now, and why us?"

"I don't know, Lieutenant, maybe you should go down and ask them," Ashley said and then squeezed off a round. "Looks like their scouting elements are coming back. Your little attack threw them off, but it seems they have recovered and are making another push. I've held them off for almost a day, and with your help, we should be able to break them."

"So we're digging in?" Kaidan asked Alaya.

"Yeah, we are. Let's show these flashlight heads what happens when you screw with the Alliance." It turned out that they were getting the fight that Richard had wanted. He might not have been there in person, but Alaya felt he was there in spirit.


End file.
